Desalination & Water Management

Opportunities & Issues

Pradip K. Tewari Fellow Indian National Academy of Engineering

President Indian Desalination Association

Vice President Asia Pacific Desalination Association

Mumbai INDIA

Ibrahim KhamisNuclear Power Technology Development Section

Division of Nuclear Power; Department of Nuclear Energy

International Atomic Energy Agency

Vienna AUSTRIA

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Water Security & RiskOver one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. By

2025, over 3.5 billion people will live in area facing severe water shortage.

Problem is increasing day by day.

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Global Desalination Scenario

Year Global cumulative

contracted

desalting

capacity (Million

Litre per Day)

Global cumulative

online desalting

capacity (Million

Litre per Day)

1980 7000 5000

1990 15000 14000

2000 30000 26000

2010 74000 63000

2016 95000 88000Source: IDA Desalination Yearbook 2016-2017

Nuclear Desalination

Why Nuclear Desalination?

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Nuclear Desalination : A Low Carbon Desalination

Fuel Coal Oil Natural

gas

Nuclear

Grams of

emitted

CO2/m3

permeate

(4KWH/m3 RO

Desalination

Plant)

3600 2479.5 1479.8 11.8

Nuclear Desalination Demonstration & Experience Reactor

type

Location Desalination

Technology

Capacities

(MLD)Status

LMFR(150

MW(e))

Kazakhstan

(Aktau)

VTE-MED 80

(Design:

145)

Commissioned in

1973 and operated till

1999

PWR(566-1180

MW(e))

Japan (Ohi,

Takahama, Ikata,

Genkai)

MSF, MED,

RO

1–2 In service; operating

experience >125

reactor years

PHWR(2x170

MW(e))

India

(Kalpakkam)

Hybrid

(MSF-RO)

6.3 (4.5

MLD

MSF+ 1.8

MLD RO)

Operating and in

service since 2002

and 2008

PHWR(137

MW(e))

Pakistan

(KANUPP)

MED 1.6 Commissioned in

2009

Nuclear Desalination Activities Reactor

type

Location Desalination

Process

Status

PWR Rep. of Korea,

Argentina, etc.

MED

RO

Integral SMRs (design

stage)

PWR Russia MED

RO

Floating unit (design

stage)

NHR-200 China MED Dedicated heat only

integral PWR (design

stage)

HTRs France, The

Netherlands,

South Africa

MED

RO

Multipurpose reactor,

GT-MHR and PBMR;

under development and

design

Nuclear Desalination Plants

Nuclear Desalination Plant

coupled with LMFR in Aktau,

Kazakhstan

Nuclear Desalination Plant

coupled with PWR in Ohi, Japan

Nuclear Desalination Plant coupled with PHWR in KANUPP, Pakistan

•All nuclear reactor types can provide the energy required by

the desalination processes.

•Small and Medium Reactors (SMRs) are good for small grids

or remote areas or small production.

•Big reactors are excellent for cogeneration especially if waste

heat is re-used.

Nuclear Reactor

Nuclear Desalination involves three technologies: (1)

Nuclear; (2) Desalination; (3) Coupling.

Desalination Processes

Characteristics Thermal Desalination Membrane

MSF MED RO

Principle Flashing Boiling Hyper-

filtration

Operating temperature (C) 105-120 60-70 25-35

Type of energy requirement Thermal Thermal Mechanical

Energy requirement Moderate Moderate Low

Desalinated Product water

quality (ppm TDS)

1-2

(Distilled)

1-2

(Distilled)

300-500

(Potable)

Technology vulnerability to

feed quality

Robust Moderate Susceptible

HYBRID DESALINATION

MSF RO

HIGH PURITY WATER

TO INDUSTRIES as PROCESS WATER

WATER FOR

DRINKING

MSF REJECT

POST-

TREATMENT

POWER

PLANT

LOW PRESSURE (LP)STEAM

Seawater

DISTILLATE PERMEATE

Advantages:

• Two qualities of product water : (i) distilled water for high end applications;

(ii) Better quality potable water through blending.

• Better redundancy

• Higher temperature feed water to RO system for better performance.

• Longer membrane life

Water Consumption in NPPs & Need for

Nuclear Desalination

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NPPs require water during:

1. Construction (4 to 5 years): 400,000-800,000 cubic metre water

requirement for excavation, concrete mixing, construction staff.

2. Commissioning and operation: Different qualities of water for

condenser cooling, component cooling, service water systems,

Process water requirement (make-up water), Ultimate heat sink

(safety)

3. Shut-down & 4. Decommissioning

Water Consumption in NPPs & Need for

Nuclear Desalination (contd.)

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Distribution of water

consumption for different

uses in a 1000 MW(e) plant

Turbine Condenser Cooling and

Service Cooling Water Flow-rates

used in Closed Loop for a 1000

MW(e) NPP

Turbine condenser

cooling

(m3/s)

Supporting

systems

cooling

(m3/s)

Recirculating cooling

water46 1.2

Evaporation losses 0.63 0.016

Blow-down losses 0.4 0.011

Make up water to

compensate losses1.03 0.027

Water Consumption in NPPs & Need for

Nuclear Desalination (contd.)

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Need for Quality Water Marriage between Nuclear & Desalination

1.For requirement during Construction (Potable water by RO)

2.During Operation (Hybrid: Potable water by RO for onsite use and

Distilled water by MED/ MSF for NPP makeup DM water)

3.In emergency/ accident (Potable water by RO for

decontamination)

4.This also has the benefits of sharing of resources between NPP

and Desalination Plant; such as:

1. Seawater intake,

2. Outfall,

3. better environmental impact. etc

Case Study (India)

Madras Atomic Power Station in South-East Coast

of India

Nuclear Desalination Plant at Kalpakkam (India)

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•Nuclear: PHWR based power

station providing low pressure

steam, electricity and sea water.

•Desalination: Uses Hybrid

Technology (Total capacity: 6.3

MLD)

•MSF: 4.5 MLD capacity

•RO : 1.8 MLD capacity

•Coupling system: Isolation loop.

•This is the largest operating

nuclear desalination plant based on

hybrid technology.

Hybrid MSF-RO: An Innovation with Societal

Application in Kalpakkam (India)

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Hybrid MSF-RO Sea Water Desalination Plant (6.3 MLD capacity)

MSF

(Distilled quality product water)RO

(Potable quality product water)

UF Pretreatment RO

Reactor Secondary

Loop (P1)

Brine Heater

Loop (P3)

Isolation

Loop (P2)

Isolation Heat Exchanger Brine Heater

Retrofitting of Nuclear Desalination System to Operating NPP

Important Considerations:

1. Transients: Load variation of steam consumption

2. Coupling Design for safe operation

3. Monitoring the activity level in isolation loop and desalination

system

4. Fulfils the make-up water requirement and augments potable

water requirement in the area.

Desalination

Evaporators

Barrier 1 Barrier 2 Barrier 3

H L H

Retrofitting of MSF Nuclear Desalination Plant to Operating MAPS at Kalpakkam India

Key Features:

i. Energy input: Waste heat as

hot water;

ii. No chemical requirement,

iii. Product quality: DM water

Low Temperature Evaporation based Desalination Plant (30

KLD capacity) using Waste Heat of Nuclear Reactor in

Trombay (India) for Seawater Desalination

Innovative Water Management

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Integrated Approach for Efficient Water Management

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Nuclear

Desalination

&

Water

Management

Potable Quality

Water for Drinking

and other purposes

Water Recycle &

Reuse

Sea Water

for Desalination

Sea Water as

Condenser

Coolant for

coastal Nuclear

Reactor/ Power

Station

Distilled quality Water

for High End Use

Efficient management of water in nuclear facilities is important . It requires

different qualities of water such as demineralised quality of water to sea water.

Process/ Utilities

Innovative Water Management

23

CONVENTIONAL WATER TREATMENT

ProcessRaw

Water

Water TreatmentPlant

Treated

Water

Effluent TreatmentPlant

Effluent Discharge

INNOVATIVE WATER MANAGEMENT USING MEMBRANE PROCESSES

ProcessRaw

Water

Water TreatmentPlant

Treated

Water

ProductRecovery Plant (NF)

Effluent or

waste water

Partiallytreated

effluent or waste water

Water Recovery &

Recycle Plant (RO)

Recycled Water

Recovered Product

Minimal Discharge

Source Reduction

Product Recovery

Water Reuse

Waste Minimisation

Reduce/ Recover/ Recycle

Reuse elsewhere

Ref: P.K. Tewari, 2016, Nanocomposite Membrane Technology: Fundamentals & Applications, ISBN: 9781466576827, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group (USA).

Opportunities/ Issues/ Recommendations

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.

Opportunities

1. Interest in using nuclear energy for producing desalinated

water as well as innovative water management in nuclear

establishment is growing.

2. The use of nuclear reactors for seawater desalination has

already been demonstrated in several countries with

operational experience of over 200 reactor-years.

3. The cogeneration of electricity and useful heat for desalination

is advantageous due to sharing of infrastructural facilities,

better thermodynamic efficiency and economic optimization.

.

Opportunities (contd.)

4. Both nuclear power and desalination technologies are

matured technologies.

5. Nuclear desalination offers significant potential to substitute

fossil fuel as a source of energy for desalination to deal with

adverse impact of climate change on water resources, .

6. There would be need for small, medium and large size

nuclear desalination plants in the coastal areas

.

Issues

1. For nuclear desalination to be attractive in any given country,

two factors need to be in place simultaneously: i) lack of water

and ii) the ability to use nuclear energy for desalination.

Countries in need of water, at times, do not have the

infrastructure for nuclear power.

2. Public acceptance

3. A greater understanding of requirements and

responsibilities among vendors and users of nuclear

desalination technologies i.e. nuclear power and desalination

technologies.

.

Recommendations

1. Training in developing countries, such as training

workshops, technical meetings

2. Sharing information

3. Promoting research, development and innovations

such as collaborative research activities

4. Proper understanding of requirements and

responsibilities among vendors and users of nuclear

desalination projects

.

Recommendations (contd.)

R&D Efforts Required

1. Reduce the energy requirement through technological

innovations,

2. Coupling aspects for different types of reactors and

desalination systems,

3. Micro, small & medium Size reactors,

4. Low grade and waste heat utilization,

5. Hybrid technologies,

6. Recovery of valuables from brine and waste water.

Thanks

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